It’s time for Bristol, baby! There are just three races left until the Playoffs start, and we all know crazy the races at short tracks can get on a Saturday night. This weekend we have the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race in Thunder Valley (Bristol Motor Speedway), and it’s shaping up to be a very good race. Track officials are desperately trying to make the bottom groove the preferred lane here, but will their artificial efforts be able to withstand 500 laps on Saturday night? Only time will tell…
There are quite a few statistics that go into the Power Index formula, including recent performance both overall and at Bristol specifically, similar track performance, projected strength of the car, practice speeds, starting position, and a few other variables.
Here’s a quick overview of the Power Index number: essentially, zero (0) is considered average; the more negative a number is in the Power Index, the stronger that driver is considered in the Fantasy NASCAR world. The opposite holds true as well: the more above zero a driver is, the worse he is considered for Fantasy NASCAR that week.
Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race Fantasy NASCAR Power Rankings
| Rank | Driver | Power Index |
| 1. | Harvick, Kevin | -48.9 |
| 2. | Logano, Joey | -46.3 |
| 3. | Hamlin, Denny | -39.4 |
| 4. | Larson, Kyle | -33.8 |
| 5. | Busch, Kyle | -28.6 |
| 6. | Busch, Kurt | -22.6 |
| 7. | Jones, Erik | -21.8 |
| 8. | Bowman, Alex | -21.2 |
| 9. | Elliott, Chase | -19.3 |
| 10. | Blaney, Ryan | -16.4 |
| 11. | Truex, Jr., Martin | -15.9 |
| 12. | Newman, Ryan | -15.3 |
| 13. | Bowyer, Clint | -14.0 |
| 14. | Johnson, Jimmie | -11.3 |
| 15. | Keselowski, Brad | -10.3 |
| 16. | Suarez, Daniel | -10.1 |
| 17. | Stenhouse, Jr., Ricky | -4.4 |
| 18. | Byron, William | -4.4 |
| 19. | DiBenedetto, Matt | -3.0 |
| 20. | Almirola, Aric | -1.1 |
| 21. | Menard, Paul | 5.1 |
| 22. | Hemric, Daniel | 5.2 |
| 23. | Dillon, Ty | 13.2 |
| 24. | Buescher, Chris | 15.2 |
| 25. | Dillon, Austin | 28.4 |
| 26. | Ragan, David | 28.9 |
| 27. | Wallace, Bubba | 35.0 |
| 28. | Preece, Ryan | 38.0 |
| 29. | McDowell, Michael | 39.0 |
| 30. | Tifft, Matt | 39.0 |
| 31. | LaJoie, Corey | 45.2 |
| 32. | Chastain, Ross | 51.5 |
| 33. | Cassill, Landon | 55.6 |
| 34. | Houff, Quin | 68.4 |
| 35. | McLeod, BJ | 70.2 |
| 36. | Sorenson, Reed | 76.7 |
| 37. | Yeley, JJ | 85.3 |
| 38. | Bilicki, Josh | 86.1 |
| 39. | Weatherman, Kyle | 89.5 |
